Starring Bezzie, her Mad Scientist husband and their kids Chunky, Moochie, and Baby Sister in a whirlwind "adventure" involving excitement, loss, separation, a series of financially draining transnational moves, hitting rock bottom, climbing up again, and a slight change of plans. Oh, and there will be some knitting involved too!

Friday, November 07, 2008

The Ugly, the Bad, the Good

First I'll start with the ugly. And yes, I know I said no more politics, but it gets better at the end!

Cross burnings in New Jersey in 2008. Where's all that giddy hope everyone had on Wednesday?

Then I'll start with the bad (well not so much but it makes for a good theme blog title!).

New Jersey teachers are lukewarm on the Oboner. Not surprising--but the opposition didn't have much more to offer either. And like Dr. Mad Scientist put it, the Oboner has bigger fires to put out before he worries about good old fashioned edjumication.

And finally the trifecta of good!

I might have voted for Oboner had he made this stance a little more well known.

Hey, if people voted for him based solely on his race (I know at least ONE person who reads this blog admitted that was their reason for voting for him to me!) why not base it on his BCS beliefs? Admittedly you kind of have to be a college football dork to fully appreciate that article but again I know at least one person who's a college football dork who reads this blog!

But I've got something good for everyone--regardless of your dork leanings--today.

Some knitting--

The Pioneer Braid scarf moves along nicely.

And finally some excitement in the mail!

Four packages of Victor Mousetraps!

I've blogged about our Fall/Winter problem with mice.

Like the leaky roof that Zorba is too cheap to fix, I can't imagine him actually trying to seal up all the cracks these mice are getting in. The house is about 80 years old (which Zorba must be too, now that I think about it) even if he wasn't a stingy old landlord (yet who takes over a week or more to cash the damn rent check--SO ANNOYING!) there ain't no way he'd be able to seal up all those holes!

Anyway, I bought three packages of Victor Snappy Traps at Home Despot (along with 42 lbs of charcoal for the grill--barbeque steaks in January baybee!) last weekend and out of that three packages of four mousetraps a package--only FOUR of the twelve total mousetraps set properly.

I emailed Victor customer service telling them what a loyal customer I am--not a lie, this will be our 2.5 winter in this house and we've used them ever since we started finding mouse turdlets in our cupboard--and how I prefer using snappy traps because they're safe for having around the boy and the furbags and more humane in the killing department than glue traps, and how disappointed I was to come across such shoddy mousetrapmanship.

In less than 24 hours they emailed me back and asked me for my mailing address. And today an envelope of 16 traps total came in the mail. I emailed them on Monday!

It's refreshing to know that in this world of cross burnings and failed education systems and broken college football playoff systems that may or may not get fixed, there's still a ray of hope that some American business still believe in customer service and the mousetrapmanship of their products!

22 Comments:

Its great when customer service actually cares! That doesn't happen too often anymore. I know what you mean about the mice. Our mice never stopped. We have at least one a month and the landlord won't do a thing about it either. Speaking of landlords and rent, mine doesn't even ask for the rent unless I call them and let them know its ready. This month, I waited until today, the 7th (!) and they hadn't asked for it yet.

In all honesty, that is the prettiest scarf I have ever seen. I love the way the color blends and the design of it. Need to learn to knit faster!

Congrats on the great customer service. I got some iron-on embroidery patterns last weekend and opened up one package...nada. Gave them a call and had new ones in 3 days. I was amazed.I got my package today. Thank you, thank you, thank you. That yarn is pretty soft.Oh, and the scarf is looking awesome!!

We have a little plastic live trap we got cheap somewhere. My husband catches the mice and takes them a couple miles from our house to release them, usually in one of the prairie restoration areas around town. We've removed more than 10 mice from our house since late summer. I know they aren't just the same ones coming back, unless it's The Incredible Journey, Mouse Edition.

I love your scarf. It's a great use of Noro! (or is that a Noro knockoff?)

As a confirmed college football dork, I so agree Obama needed to let us know this sooner! He would definitely have had a stronger chance in some of those Red States! Thank you for sharing :) (I needed that after the cross burning...so sad).

As for customer service, surprisingly, I had a similar excellent experience recently with Barnes & Noble online. I ordered a couple of books, and they shipped the wrong one. I emailed them, and pow--they shipped the right one along with a postage-paid return label for the wrong one, no charges or refunds involved, plus an apology. All very easy.

That is 'cross burning' singular incident of one asshat. No need to sensationalize it more than it already is. There aren't roving bands of McCainites running in the streets doing anything, (except blaming the woman.) I think we're mostly crying and licking our wounds in private, buying guns in mass quantities and planning for clever tax shelters.) Hey, you brought it up Bez. :-)

The scarf of many colors is really coming out 'resplendent'<---Word of the day today. tee hee

I hear tell that stuffing mouse holes and cracks with good old fashioned steel wool bits really puts them off. They can't take the cuts on their little mouths from the SW and won't chew through it. Something to consider if you see any holes they may be using. Help save of the use of traps?

That scarf could not be more beautiful - I printed out the pattern, but don't have the right yarn for it yet. Good luck with the mice - you may do this already, but I would recommend using peanut butter on the traps - when I lived in NYC this worked great.

That's awesome about the mouse traps! I guess it pays to compliment a company! I was going to suggest you get a cat to deal with the mouse problem, but then I remembered you have two of them - you've got to get on thos cats about not doing their job! : )

I feel really fortunate to have a good landlord. I've had some really crappy ones in the past.

And sadly, the cross burnings don't surprise me. My husband and I have had to deal with a lot of crap as an interracial couple, so not much surprises me anymore.

I hope I'm not the blog reader you're referring to that voted for Obama because of race. I think it's a plus that he's black, and the nation was overdue for a black president, but did/would I vote for someone just because of race, no. I wouldn't have voted for Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton if either of them had been running for president.

Beautiful scarf, by the way! I must learn how to knit one of these days.

P.S. The teachers' unions are lukewarm about Obama because he isn't adamantly opposed to vouchers and charter schools. Those are about the only Republican supported issues I'm favorable towards. It's clear that a lot of traditional public schools aren't working, and I don't think the whole public education system should be dismantled, but in areas where they aren't working, why not try something else?

Great customer service! But with the 4 packages they sent, plus the ones that worked from your purchase, you now have at least 20 mousetraps! Obviously, there will be no where in your house where mice are safe! ;-)

I'm going to claim the mice on my income tax this year. Honestly, I'm feeding and housing them, it should count.

I got the traps that kill the mouse inside so I don't have to handle the mouse or even see it. Ever since Lilith caught one, ate half of it and puked it up on another area of the rug, I can't deal with dead mice. Talk about making morning sickness even worse.

I live in a wicked old house combined with a field in the back. They move in come winter and back out in the spring. I'm like Florida for mice...

I'm with you. Isn't it racism (sexism, ageism etc.) either way? Apparently not. It seems judging by the content of character, and policies, was not good enough. MLK is probably weeping, not celebrating.

I'm here to second Mag's recommendation of steel wool -- that is, if you can find the cracks the meices are coming in through. At our old apartment we had a hole in the kitchen floor where the pipes came through, and we had to plug it up with steel wool to keep the mice out. That was when Solvie was going through her phase of horfing them down whole.